Porterville's Soto back to winning ways at Warrior's Cage
By Fighting Unlimited News staff
PORTERVILLE – It was a successful homecoming for Joe Soto.The former Bellator Fighting Championships 145-pound champion snapped a two-fight losing streak with a dominating performance against Sacramento’s Chris David.Soto, who is from Porterville, out-classed David en route to a submission victory at the 4:28 mark of the second round.
Soto controlled the entire fight with his dominant wrestling skills and brutal ground and pound before eventually locking in the rear-naked choke.Soto improved to 10-2 and won for the first time since May 20, 2010. David fell to 13-10-2.
Visalia fighter Mike Cook made quick work of Tule River’s Owen Rubio. After a series of kicks, Cook took Rubio down and used an old-fashioned neck crank to force Rubio to tap out 1:44
into the first round. Cook improved to 13-9 in his career. The loss was just the second for Rubio, who fell to 5-2.
Joe Murphy made his drive from Huntington Beach well worth it. The Cleber Luciano Jiu-Jitsu fighter improved to 5-0 after locking in a rear-naked choke and forcing Rodney Rhoden to tap out 2:37 into the first round. Rhoden, a fighter with 21 fights of experience, fell to 10-11 in his career.
Santa Rosa’s Jimmy Grant had his way with a very tough Jose Sanchez, of Strathmore. Grant improved to 4-1 after locking in an armbar and forcing Sanchez to tap out 1:32 into the second round.
Woodlake fighter Cain Carrizosa was relentless in his pursuit of a submission. After getting close three times to submitting Exeter fighter John Wadkins three times in the first round,
Carrizosa finally got it done in the second, locking in and armbar and forcing Wadkins to tap out 1:35 into the round. Carrizosa improved to 3-0 in his young MMA career, while Wadkins fell to 0-1
.
Lemoore’s Jake Hunter turned what could have been an ugly situation into an impressive victory. Hunter, who was in serious trouble with a rear-naked choke applied to him, escaped and landed in dominant position where he landed some vicious ground and pound to defeat Jared Williams via TKO 1:50 into the first round to improve to 2-1.
Shelby Charley Jr. and Pedro Mercado both came out swinging. Needless to say, their match lasted just 24 seconds. Charley Jr. landed a vicious uppercut to record the one-punch knockout in his pro MMA debut.
In an exciting women’s bout, Bakersfield’s Julia Avila outlasted Visalia’s Marion Reneau for a unanimous decision victory. Reneau started off with a strong first round, but Avila pulled out the decision with stronger second and third rounds.
Ryan Reneau locked in a guillotine choke, forcing Alex Barajas to tap out in just 0:53 seconds. There was some controversy following the bout because Barajas didn’t think he tapped, but it looked like he hit the canvas multiple times with his fist, which is why Jason McCoy stepped in for the stoppage.
J.T. Contresano started the night off with a 17-second victory over Brandon Cohea. Both fighters were making their pro debut, but Contresano wasted little time in recording the technical knockout victory in the 170-pound bout.